Topics and Clause Connectives in Chinese

雖然過去曾有不少學者對中文的分句連詞做過研究，但他們的研究大都侷限於語義方面，偶有提及語法作用者也都語焉不詳。筆者近十數年一直潛心於研究主題在中文句法中所起的作用。最近在主題與分句連詞的交互作用上有二樣重大的發現。第一、中文的時間、地點、原因、讓步、條件等分句如例（1）兩句，皆可分析為大主題。（1）a. 如果他不來的話，請他通知我。b. 如果他不來，請他通知我。關於這一點，趙（1968）也有類似的看法，他並提出數點論據。本文除了引用趙之外，並提出數點新的論證。第二、筆者最近的研究發現出現於動詞與大主題之間的提前賓語、副語、及雙名句的第二個名語等皆可析為次主題。根據這一項理論，那麼中文中一大類分句連詞如「雖然」、「如果」、「因為」等的位置就可以用下述方法來衍生：一、在底層結構，它們和別的句首連詞如「而且」、「但是」等一樣都出現在句首COMP的位置如（2a）。二、這一類連詞出現在其他位置的句子如（2b），可以用「主題（含大、次、參主題）提昇」律衍生。（2）a. 雖然他昨天生病，但還是去上班了。b. 他昨天雖然生病，但還是去上班了。本文並檢視了文言文的情形，結果發現「主題提昇」這條規律在文言文中也同樣需要，可見該規律在中文存在已久。最後本文根據分句連詞和該規律的交互作用提出了中文分句連詞的全新分類法。

Although there have been quite a few studies on the Chinese clause connectives in the past, most of them concerned themselves with the semantic functions of these connectives, paying scanty attention to the syntactic behavior of them, especially their positions in a sentence. My continuous research in the roles that topics play in Chinese syntax has led to two findings with regard to the interaction between topics and clause connectives. First, clauses of time, location, reason, concession and condition, as in (1a) and (1b), should all be analyzed as the primary topic of the sentence. (1) a. ruguo ta bu lai de hua, ching ta tungjr wo. if he not come DE case ask him notify me 'If he is not coming, ask him to notify me.' b. ruguo ta bu lai, ching ta tungjr wo. if he not come ask him notify me 'Same as (a).' This point was first made by Chao (1968), in which several arguments were also given. In addition to Chao's arguments, I have added several of my own in support of this analysis. Second, my continuous research of topics in Chinese has led to the finding that the second nominative in a double nominative construction, the fronted object and the preverbal adverbials which occur between the primary topic and the main verb should all be analyzed as secondary topics. This finding enables us to account for the placement of an important class of clause connectives which includes sueiran 'though', yinwei 'because' and ruguo 'if'. If we make the further assumption that in the underlying structure they occur in the S-initial COMP position, as in (2a), then their other positions as exemplified by (2b), can be accounted for by the rule of "topic-raising". (2) a. sueiran ta tzuotian sheng-bing, dan haishr chiu shangban le. though he yesterday get-sick but still go office PART 'Although he was sick yesterday, he still went to his office.' b. ta tzuotian sueiran sheng-bing, dan haishr chiu shangban le. he yesterday though get-sick but still go office PART 'Same as (a).' An examination of Classical Chinese data reveals that the same rule is also required, showing that the rule has been in existence in the Chinese language for a long time. Finally, on the basis of our findings, we propose a syntactically significant scheme for the classification of all Chinese clause connectives.